Lisbon Mind & Reasoning RIP Seminar

Pictorial Models, Imagination, and Magical Actions

According to Noë, pictures can serve as models to access the world. On McGinn's account, pictures appear inapt to provide information about states of affairs. That's because the interpretation of pictures draws on mental acts of imagination, whereas for Noë perception itself is enactive. Both views might accomodate pictorial instructions, with which we learn to perform new actions. The relation between pictorial representations, imagination and action can be further elucidated with respect to instructive pictures about magic tricks: They show how to misinform an audience by exploiting their imagination.